Reports out of Seattle has The Retail Group, one of the rising stars of consulting firms in the late 90s, filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shuttering its operations. The firm, started by retail and brand marketing high-flier J'Amy Owens, listed just $9,000 in assets and liabilities totaling $1.3 million in its filing.
Owens, who was fired by the company in 2001, was once dubbed the “diva of retail” by ABC News, Inc. Magazine and others and was highly sought after by both retailers and brands for her “magic touch”. The company never recovered after her departure. Owens married her co-founding partner Cristopher Gunter in 1989 and stayed on at the firm after their divorce in 1994. Gunter was the sole remaining employee as it closed shop last week.
An attorney for the company said the firm was hurt by “lackluster demand for its services during a sluggish economy”. “(In) this economy, nobody's hiring retail consultants,” Wood said in a report in a local Seattle paper.
>>> It doesnt help when the face of the company isnt there anymore either
